Metabolism of deoxycorticosterone and deoxycorticosterone sulfate in men and women.

In this investigation we found that little of intravenously infused [14C]deoxycorticosterone (DOC) was converted to [14C]DOC-SO4 that entered plasma. Moreover little of intravenously infused [3H]DOC-SO4 was metabolized by way of DOC except by intestinal bacterial enzymes. However evidence was obtained that plasma DOC is converted to DOC-SO4 in liver, but little of the DOC-SO4 formed in liver escapes into blood; rather the DOC-SO4 enters bile and in the intestine is converted, in part, to progesterone (or metabolites thereof) by the action of bacterial enzymes. The estimated intrahepatic fractional conversion of DOC to DOC-SO4 was significantly greater in premenopausal women (0.72 +/- 0.118, mean +/- SEM) than in men (0.28 +/- 0.036, P less than 0.005).